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Published July 1, 2001 | public
Journal Article

Chemical Characterization of Fine Particle Emissions from Fireplace Combustion of Woods Grown in the Northeastern United States

Abstract

A series of source tests was conducted to determine the chemical composition of fine particle emissions from the fireplace combustion of six species of woods grown in the northeastern United States:  red maple, northern red oak, paper birch, eastern white pine, eastern hemlock, and balsam fir. Results include fine particle emission rates for total mass, organic and elemental carbon, ionic species, elemental species including potassium, and over 250 specific organic compounds. The data are intended for use in source-apportionment studies that utilize particulate organic compounds as source-specific tracers. The cellulose pyrolysis product levoglucosan was quantified in each of the wood smokes studied and is thus a good candidate as a molecular tracer for wood combustion in general. Differences in emission rates of specific substituted phenols and resin acids can be used to distinguish between the smoke produced when burning hardwoods versus softwoods. Certain organic compounds, such as betulin from paper birch combustion and juvabione and dehydrojuvabione from balsam fir combustion, are unique to those species and can potentially be utilized to trace particulate emissions back to a specific geographical region where those individual tree species are used for firewood.

Additional Information

© 2001 American Chemical Society. Received for review July 10, 2000. Revised manuscript received March 23, 2001. Accepted March 26, 2001. We thank Brian King, Steve Dutton, Paul Mayo, and Dawn Fine for their assistance in conducting the source tests. Further thanks also go to Faurice Bowden, to Joshua Meurer at Meurer Tree Service, to Southern Fuelwood, and to Ron Severs at Cloquet Forestry Center for their help in acquiring the appropriate wood samples for testing. Financial support for this research was provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under EPA Grant R826233-01-0 (California Institute of Technology).

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 18, 2023